Posted on 05/04/2008 7:51:24 PM PDT by blam
Killer ravens attack livestock
By Bonnie Malkin
Last Updated: 8:34PM BST 04/05/2008
Deadly attacks by large groups of ravens on young livestock are on the increase, farmers have warned. Lambs, calves and sheep are being targeted across Britain, but especially in Scotland and Wales.
The ravens flock together to attack their victims in scenes which some describe as reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film The Birds.
Even if the animals survive the attacks, they are left in excruciating pain.
Ravens, which almost became extinct in Britain during the 19th century, are a protected species, but the rise in the number of attacks has led farmers to demand the right to kill them.
A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland said farmers who could prove their livestock was under threat could apply for a licence to kill ravens, but added: "We think that provision is adequate."
Johnny Hall, the head of rural policy for the National Farmers Union of Scotland, said his members had been hit hardest by the resurgence of ravens.
Recently the birds had become more brazen, he said, attacking adult livestock as well as the young.
"It's not just an issue with them taking lambs. We have substantial evidence of them attacking adult sheep and calves too. The attacks are so horrific that it's causing mental suffering to people who find the animals," he told The Observer.
Farmers in west Wales have also complained that their sheep are falling prey to the growing raven population.
"The attacks on livestock are becoming a problem, but there's not a lot we can do about it," a spokesman for NFU Cymru told the paper.
Ravens traditionally eat carrion, but they are also highly opportunistic and are known to prey on small mammals.
It is due to global warming.
Yes, the warm weather is driving them mad.
“”It’s not just an issue with them taking lambs. We have substantial evidence of them attacking adult sheep and calves too. The attacks are so horrific that it’s causing mental suffering to people who find the animals,” he told The Observer.”
Hey Dude, ever heard of a SHOTGUN??????
Why has England become such a country of wimps?
Mental suffering? Egad, can’t have that now can we....
Don’t you know they took all of the guns away from the people in England. I am not sure that the farmers are allowed shotguns.
Looks like the UK could stand to import some of the good ole American - SHOOT, SHOVEL, and SHUT UP.
caused by forcing Johnny Unitas, Art Donovan, Weeb Ewbank, Ted Hendricks, John Mackey, Gino Marchetti, Lenny Moore, Jim Parker and Joe Perry to represent Indy team history!
maybe if the ravens start carrying off small children they will remove them from the protected list......oh,,it’s England, never mind....!!
Shotguns work well, but often if you’re trying to shoot them when they’re in the pen with the lambs, you’re going to kill ewes or lambs too.
Hence my preference for a .17 HMR.
The thing is, you don’t need to kill boatloads of ravens. All corvids (crows, ravens, magpies) are among the smartest birds I’ve ever seen. They’re incredibly smart at learning from other birds’ errors.
If you shoot just two or three ravens or crows (if you can nail more than one, which is highly unlikely) and hang the dead ones up on a fence, you won’t have another problem with ravens or crows for years. Really.
So the problem here is that UK farmers can’t even shoot one or two any more - that’s why the attacks are on the increase. The ravens have finally gone through a generation of ravens that learned the hard way that they’d get shot, and now there is a new generation that has never had any resistance at attacking livestock in pens.
W’re having the same problem with sea lions. “Protected”
Mass hysteria...
Ravens ehh?
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door—
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore.
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”
Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”
Bush's Fault.
Llamas are alot quieter than shotguns and kinda cool too- they’ve been used here in the US as sheep-guards with great success- I’m told they think of sheep as their intellectually challenged fuzzy cousins in need of protection.
Global Warming has replaced Bush as the default cause of bad stuff.
Mark...
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